


When I Say I Miss You, I Mean It

by ohmyallstars



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Eventual Smut, Internalized Homophobia, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-11
Updated: 2013-11-11
Packaged: 2018-01-01 05:51:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1041104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmyallstars/pseuds/ohmyallstars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes when it feels like the world is against you, messages and video calls just aren't enough, and you wish that the person you care about could be there beside you. Separated by oceans, Harry is trying to deal with his feelings for his online friend Ashton and trying to rebuild his relationship with his homophobic brother, Liam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When I Say I Miss You, I Mean It

Harry’s phone vibrated on the table and he flipped it over to see a new message. An involuntary smile crept onto his face when he saw who it was from but he tried to cover it before Liam saw it.  
‘Ooh, who’s it from? You boyfriend?’ he teased in a sing song voice. Before Harry could stop him, he’d snatched the phone out of his hands and opened the message. ‘”I missed you today” oh, how sweet.’  
‘Shut up.’ Harry whined as he clumsily tried to snatch it out of his brother’s hand. ‘Give it back to me!’  
Liam pretended to give it back but pulled his hand away at the last second causing Harry to overbalance in his chair and jolt the table, knocking Liam’s beer into his lap.  
‘Fuuu- Are you serious?’ He cried, leaping to his feet. ‘I’m going to kill you. I just washed these pants. They were good for another week.’  
‘You just washed them?’ Harry said pointedly, managing to get his phone back from Liam’s distracted hands.  
‘Louis washed them; same difference.’ He sat back down, but wiggled his chair over so that he could avoid the puddle on the ground and the table. ‘Anyway, what were we talking about?’  
He downed what was left in his glass and motioned to a passing waitress to bring him another one.  
‘Nothing.’  
‘Oh right, your boyfriend – ‘  
‘He’s not my boyfriend.’ Harry said automatically.  
‘Yeah, whatever. You call him every night, you text him five hundred times a day,’ Liam reminded him, counting off each point on his fingers. ‘You comment on every damn post he makes on Facebook – ‘  
‘I do not.’ Harry interrupted. ‘You’re massively exaggerating.’  
‘Every time we go to the shops,’ he continued, almost as if Harry hadn’t said anything, ‘you look at things and say “oh, he’d love this” or “he has one just like this!”. Don’t try and deny it. These are facts.’  
‘Exaggerated facts maybe.’  
‘But facts nonetheless…’ He waggled an accusing finger at Harry, but he didn’t rise to the bait. It was obvious that it didn’t matter what he said, Liam was in a teasing mood and wouldn’t let it go unless Harry did. A few minutes passed before Liam suddenly said, ‘What time did Louis finish work?’  
‘At nine I think.’  
‘What time is it now?’  
‘Half past.’ Harry told him, checking the time on his phone. Liam groaned and pushed himself back from the table. ‘I tried to tell you.’  
‘Not very hard, obviously. I’ll go pay the bill. You go and get the car.’ He stood and wriggled the car keys from his pocket.  
With Liam gone, Harry took the opportunity to send his friend a message in reply.  
I missed you too. Liam took my phone and read your text. Good thing he didn’t see the ones from last night ;)  
It didn’t take him long to bring the car around, but something seemed to have caught Liam’s attention inside because fifteen minutes later there was still no sight of him.  
Harry’s phone started ringing and he glanced at it hopefully but it was Louis’s name that popped up.  
‘We’re leaving now.’ Harry said, in way of a proper greeting.  
‘You’re late.’ Louis groaned. He sounded annoyed and Harry felt the familiar sensation of guilt seep through him.  
‘You know what he’s like.’ Harry reminded him apologetically.  
‘Yeah… I know,’ was Louis’s response. His voice sounded more resigned that annoyed. ‘I just- yeah. Okay. See you soon.’  
The phone beeped to signal that the call had ended, and Harry exhaled loudly. He knew it wasn’t really his fault, but he always felt bad when it came to Liam and Louis. When Liam had asked to live with them after forced to leave the apartment he’d shared with his ex-girlfriend, neither of them had known what to expect. A homophobic moving in with two openly gay men is generally a bad idea. And on top of that, nobody had expected Louis to develop feelings for Liam. It was a tangled mess of testosterone and feelings and Harry felt caught in the middle of it all.  
The sound of the car door opening pulled Harry from his thoughts and he waited as Liam climbed in and got settled.  
‘Louis called.’ He said as they finally pulled away from the curb.  
‘He mad?’  
‘No…’  
‘Whatever - he’s always mad.’ Liam moaned. He startled fiddling with the radio but stopped when he saw Harry glare at him from the corner of his eye. ‘What?’  
‘Maybe if you weren’t such a pain in the ass… you have no idea, man…’ He trailed off, realising that he was steering the conversation in a direction that he’d rather not go in.  
‘No idea about what?’ Liam demanded. For the hundredth time Harry considered telling Liam about Louis’s feelings but he reminded himself of his brother’s history with that sort of stuff.  
‘Nothing, it’s just that you don’t realise how much he does for you. And you repay him by always being late, never cleaning up your mess, and ignoring him.’  
‘Stop lecturing me.’  
‘You have to treat him better than this! He deserves better.’ Harry snapped.  
‘If he deserves so much better why don’t you fuck him? That’d get you both off my back all the time. He’d be better him than that catfishing boyfriend of yours. I can’t help that you two don’t seem to understand what a normal male friendship is. Stop objectifying me.’ he was yelling and before Harry knew it he’d slammed on the brake and brought the car to a stop.  
‘You’re a moron. Get out.’  
‘No, Harry I’m sorry. I had too much to drink.’ Liam pleaded. Harry wasn’t up for his excuses though and he turned to face his brother as more of them poured out of his mouth. ‘I’m just tired and stressed; you know I don’t feel that way. You guys are –‘  
‘Get out.’  
‘Harry, you can’t be serious?’ He cried out. Harry didn’t say anything else, but gave Liam a look that said yes, I’m serious. Swearing under his breath Liam kicked open the car door and jumped out, making sure to slam it behind him as well. 

 

‘Where’s Liam?’ Louis asked when Harry pulled up beside him a few minutes later.  
‘He needed some air.’ Harry told him. Without prying further, Louis climbed into the passenger seat and they drove off. ‘How was work?’  
‘Everyone and their mother had their asshole pants on tonight.’ He sighed. ‘I swear people get more and more annoying every year.’  
‘That sucks.’ Harry mumbled. They sat in silence for a bit and Louis pulled a bag of chips from his bag and ate them loudly. ‘Want to rent a movie?’  
‘Hell yeah.’

 

The end credits were rolling when they heard keys in the front door, and Louis and Harry gave each other a look. He’d explained what had happened to Louis, who’d reassured him that he hadn’t overreacted considering how Liam had been in the past but Liam had taken far longer than they’d expected to get home.  
‘Hello?’ Liam called as he walked through the house. Harry stared straight ahead at the TV but Louis called out to him to let him know where they were. He came around the corner and stopped. ‘Hey guys.’  
‘Hey.’ Louis said with a smile.  
‘Harry, can I talk to you for a sec?’  
‘I already told Louis what happened.’  
‘Oh.’ He said, obviously feeling awkward. ‘I just wanted to say that I’m sorry I said that. I know – I know that was a dumbass thing to say. I’m not like that anymore.’  
‘What? A homophobic sociopath?’ Harry asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  
‘I was never a sociopath - stop exaggerating. I’m trying to apologise.’ Liam’s tone tuned to pleading and Harry was hit by a wave of exhaustion.  
‘Yeah, I heard you. Thanks’ he said. ‘I’m going to bed.’  
‘Okay.’ The others said in unison. As Harry left the room he heard Liam collapse onto the couch and the murmur of their conversation.  
Once in his room he turned on his laptop and opened up Skype. Before he had the chance to make a call he received one, and he smiled when Ashton’s face filled the screen.  
‘Hi!’ Ashton sang. ‘You look like shit, what’s going on?’  
‘Nothing. Liam’s just – I don’t know. He made some dumbass homophobic comment and it’s just got me on edge.’  
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ Ashton gasped, ‘Was it like what he used to say?’  
‘it wasn’t that bad, he was drunk and he spoke without thinking.’  
‘I’m sorry.’  
‘Stop saying that.’ Harry laughed. Ashton always made it better. It didn’t matter what Harry was dealing with, two seconds of conversation with Ash wiped it all away. ‘I’m really tired so I won’t stay long, but I want to hear what you did today.”

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a chaptered fic, but I don't know how many chapters yet. Let me know what you think!


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